The Day Before The Big Day

We spent last Friday, the day before the Get A Clue! Gathering, in the Grand Rapids area doing a little “pre-event” ‘boxing. We decided the Ok Corral series would be a good warm up (and as B pointed out, it was a “masculine” series, which are a bit rare in the letterboxing world!). We found Aman park without a problem and set off for Box #1. It was a gorgeous autumn day, and though we were a bit chilly at first, we quickly warmed up climbing up and down the largish hills in the park. Box #1 was found pretty quickly and we set off for Box #2. As we were walking down the trail, we passed an older gentleman with a few sheets of paper in his hand and a backpack -- a sure sign of another letterboxer! But being the shy people we are, we didn’t say anything. However, when we passed him again about five minutes later, he asked us if we were boxers. We ‘fessed up and we stopped to chat for a bit. This was his 4th time out to find the boxes in this series, which sent us into a panic. Were the rest really that difficult? Had we stumbled upon the first by sheer luck? Our mystery boxer (we never did get his name, though we think his stamp was a lighthouse) kindly offered us a hint for Box #2, concerning the pine trees, and then went on his merry way. Hmmm... pine trees.... (Editorial note: getting hints for boxes is never a good thing. It usually just causes more trouble than it is worth. Don’t believe me? See J&BBooks’ ensuing problems!) we were pretty sure we were on the right trail... and there were pine trees and an open area with prairie grass right there... so we looked... and looked... and looked for that darn #2... all to no avail. Finally, after much frustrating scrambling in the brush, we decided to skip it and head on to Box #3. After a bit of a walk, we found it without a problem (and loved the stamp, as this cowboy was our fave from the movie!). We moved on to Box #4. I admit, there was some confusion over which trail to take at the 4-way trail intersection, but after a bit of trial and error, we found the correct trail, the correct series of stumps, and finally the correct hiding spot. Now the question remained: Should we head back and look for #2? Or call it a day? We decided to follow the trail back to the parking lot and look at the map. We did... and inspiration descended. Without giving anything away, let’s just say that “pine trees” was a helpful hint... if you had looked at the map first! :-) We hightailed it back onto the trails and successfully found #2.

Whew! By the time we got back to the truck, it was 5:30. Our plans to pick up a few of Grandvilla’s or Mobiusklein’s in the area would have to wait. Except that we noticed that Make A Wish was just a few miles away... so we zipped over and practically ran through the trails at Johnson Park, because it was getting dark and we were getting hungry! We found this very cute stamp without a hitch.

The only thing left to do before the big day was to find a hotel and eat dinner, both of which were accomplished in short order. The funny thing at dinner was that J ordered a baked potato and was informed that the restaurant was out of potatoes! Seems an odd thing to run out of, especially as you can run out to the grocery store to get more!

Tomorrow: The Get A Clue! Gathering... complete with pictures!